DMK's Kanimozhi asks 'How will government achieve USD 5 trillion economy?'

Cornering the Central government over the current slowdown in the Indian economy, Dravida Munetra Kazhgam (DMK) MP K Kanimozhi on Thursday asked the Centre how it would achieve a 5-trillion dollar economy with a five per cent growth rate.

She also criticised Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for renaming the Indus Valley civilisation as ''Saraswati Sindhu'' civilisation.

Engaging in a general talk on the Union Budget 2020-2021 in the Lok Sabha, Kanimozhi claimed that 50,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) had closed and jobs lost following the November 2016 demonetisation measure.

"The government speaks of achieving 5-trillion dollar economy. How will it meet the target as proposed in the Budget when the annual economic growth is only five per cent?" Kanimozhi asked.

She further claimed that the Internet shutdowns in India had incurred a loss of nearly Rs 93,000 crore.

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Kanimozhi attacks FM Sitharaman

Kanimozhi attacked FM Nirmala Sitharaman for "going out of the way to rename the Indus Valley civilisation as Saraswati Sindhu civilisation" and asked the government to allow the scholars and historians to do such work.

She said that the existence of the "mythical" Saraswati river has not been proven even by experts, and accused the BJP of always attempting to rewrite history.

The DMK leader accused the PM Modi-led BJP government of not only painting contemporary India in "saffron" but also going back in history to paint the past in the "Hindutva colours".

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In the Budget speech on February 1, FM Sitharaman had said that entrepreneurial activity existed in ancient India referring to the "Saraswati-Sindhu" civilisation.

Kanimozhi also wondered how Sitharaman could quote from an era when the Indus script had not been translated.

The DMK leader further criticised 15th Finance Commission suggestions on divisions of tax revenue between the Centre and states, saying the recommendations were unfair to the states which controlled their population growth.

Kanimozhi also condemned the Government's move to seek defence allocation from the states, saying that it is the Centre's responsibility and the expenditure should be borne by it.

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(Image: PTI)